Construction Accidents in a Large-Scale Public Infrastructure Project: Severity and Prevention
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144, Issue 10
Abstract
The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao bridge–related Hong Kong (HZMB-HK) project consists of a set of boundary crossing facilities and transport links that connect the main bridge (HZMB) to the Hong Kong territory. It is a featured large-scale public infrastructure project that involves construction works done above or near the sea. A number of accidents have occurred since the commencement of the project in November 2011. This study aims to analyze the construction accidents that occurred in the HZMB-HK project during the period from 2012 to the first half of 2017. The methodology comprises both quantitative and qualitative approaches. First, the safety performance of the project was quantitatively measured using three indicators: accident, fatality, and lethality rates. In this regard, it was identified that the safety performance of the project was worse than that of public work contracts and the construction industry in general. It was also found that fall and caught in-between were the deadliest types of accidents in the project. Second, eight fatal incidents that resulted in nine fatalities were qualitatively analyzed on the basis of relevant accident investigation reports. In this regard, it was found that of the nine decedents, five died from drowning. This indicates that working above or near the sea poses a high risk of drowning to construction workers. Furthermore, measures to prevent accidents in large-scale infrastructure projects such as the HZMB-HK project were analyzed in this study. This study adds to the construction safety body of knowledge by analyzing the accidents in a large-scale infrastructure project that involves both land- and sea-based construction works. The lessons from this study could help stakeholders, such as policy makers and practitioners, improve the safety performance of large-scale infrastructure projects worldwide.
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Data Availability Statement
Data analyzed during the study were provided by a third party. Requests for data should be directed to the provider indicated in the Acknowledgements. Information about the Journal’s data sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Labour Department of HKSAR, Marine Department of HKSAR, and Highways Department of HKSAR for the data provided. The authors are also thankful to the Editors and anonymous Reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly helped in improving the quality of this paper. This study utilized data on the HZMB-HK project, which were obtained from various entities. The data on the workers and man-hours of the workers were obtained from the Highways Department of HKSAR. Those on the industrial and marine accidents were obtained from the Labour Department and Marine Departments. Those on the accident and fatality rates of public work contracts and the construction industry in general were gathered from the Annual Report on Accident Statistics and Analyses for Public Work Contracts, published by the Development Bureau. The Concise Investigation Report, the Work Safety Alert, the Marine Accident Investigation Report, the Marine Department Notices, the Judgment, and the Green Cross were publicly available. Demographic information of decedents were gathered from the WiseNews database.
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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144 • Issue 10 • October 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 10, 2017
Accepted: Apr 9, 2018
Published online: Jul 20, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 20, 2018
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